

IBM Security QRadar and Cisco XDR both compete in the cybersecurity domain, focusing on threat management and security analytics. While both have distinct strengths, Cisco XDR seems to have an advantage due to its seamless integration with Cisco products.
Features: IBM Security QRadar is recognized for its comprehensive feature set, including information extraction from raw logs, scalability, and user behavior analytics. Its real-time alerting capabilities and versatile app support are also key strengths. Cisco XDR offers robust automation and visibility, with a strong emphasis on easy integration with Cisco’s suite, complemented by reliable threat intelligence and automated responses.
Room for Improvement: IBM Security QRadar users emphasize the need for enhanced incident management and more integration options. There's also a desire for better analytics, reporting, and visualization tools. Cisco XDR faces challenges with licensing complexity and high upfront costs, and users suggest a more favorable pricing strategy and improvements in handling observed limits during investigations.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both IBM Security QRadar and Cisco XDR support deployment across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. QRadar maintains a strong customer service reputation, though experiences with technical support vary. Cisco XDR generally provides good customer service, although its licensing complexity can impact customer satisfaction.
Pricing and ROI: IBM Security QRadar is generally on the higher end regarding pricing, with costs affected by EPS and flow rates. While some users find it expensive, the ROI is recognized due to its comprehensive security insights. Cisco XDR's pricing is impacted by currency conversions and licensing models, although it benefits from discounts when bundled with other Cisco products.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| IBM Security QRadar | 3.3% |
| Cisco XDR | 2.0% |
| Other | 94.7% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 90 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 36 |
| Large Enterprise | 103 |
Cisco XDR delivers an advanced threat detection and response experience through integration with Cisco's security suite, offering enhanced visibility, intelligence, and automation for network protection and system evaluations.
Cisco XDR integrates with Cisco Meraki and Splunk, excelling in threat intelligence and zero-day attack detection. Its automated response features provide crucial support in managing extensive networks, while the comprehensive log management facilitates detailed troubleshooting. Dashboards assist in system evaluation for effective gap mitigation. Despite its licensing complexity and upfront costs, it remains a key tool for Security Operations Center analysts and internet service providers, helping isolate threats and ensuring consistent security monitoring.
What features make Cisco XDR stand out?Cisco XDR is widely implemented in sectors requiring robust network management and monitoring. Organizations use it alongside Cisco Firepower Threat Defense and Meraki for comprehensive security measures, benefiting global customers and internet service providers for traffic and routing insights across devices and data centers.
IBM Security QRadar (recently acquired by Palo Alto Networks) is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations. This is done through integrated visibility, investigation, detection, and response. QRadar empowers security groups with actionable insights into high-priority threats by providing visibility into enterprise security data. Through centralized visibility, security teams and analysts can determine their security stance, which areas pose a potential threat, and which areas are critical. This will help streamline workflows by eliminating the need to pivot between tools.
IBM Security QRadar is built to address a wide range of security issues and can be easily scaled with minimal customization effort required. As data is ingested, QRadar administers automated, real-time security intelligence to swiftly and precisely discover and prioritize threats. The platform will issue alerts with actionable, rich context into developing threats. Security teams and analysts can then rapidly respond to minimize the attackers' strike. The solution will provide a complete view of activity in both cloud-based and on-premise environments as a large amount of data is ingested throughout the enterprise. Additionally, QRadar’s anomaly detection intelligence enables security teams to identify any user behavior changes that could be indicators of potential threats.
IBM QRadar Log Manager
To better help organizations protect themselves against potential security threats, attacks, and breaches, IBM QRadar Log Manager gathers, analyzes, preserves, and reports on security log events using QRadar Sense Analytics. All operating systems and applications, servers, devices, and applications are converted into searchable and actionable intelligent data. QRadar Log Manager then helps organizations meet compliance reporting and monitoring requirements, which can be further upgraded to QRadar SIEM for a more superior level of threat protection.
Some of QRadar Log Manager’s key features include:
Reviews from Real Users
IBM Security QRadar is a solution of choice among users because it provides a complete solution for security teams by integrating network analysis, log management, user behavior analytics, threat intelligence, and AI-powered investigations into a single solution. Users particularly like having a single window into their network and its ability to be used for larger enterprises.
Simon T., a cyber security services operations manager at an aerospace/defense firm, notes, "The most valuable thing about QRadar is that you have a single window into your network, SIEM, network flows, and risk management of your assets. If you use Splunk, for instance, then you still need a full packet capture solution, whereas the full packet capture solution is integrated within QRadar. Its application ecosystem makes it very powerful in terms of doing analysis."
A management executive at a security firm says, "What we like about QRadar and the models that IBM has, is it can go from a small-to-medium enterprise to a larger organization, and it gives you the same value."
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